Smart Home Cybersecurity Companies Deliver On CES Promises

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that takes place in Las Vegas every year is, rather like the town itself, not understated.

This year more than 170,000 delegates crowded the show hoping to see the products of the future and how they can be involved in shaping that future. It is the world’s fair for the tech-minded and lays down a huge marker for the rest of the year.

Naturally, among the many diamonds that are announced at CES, there is much hype and bluster over products that may not even see the light of day, but are much-publicised at the time.

This goes across all sectors, not least the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) market and the so-called Smart Home.

According to a recent report from Gartner,, the number of connected IoT devices will reach 8.4 billion by the end of 2017 – up 31 percent from 2016 – and accelerate to 20.4 billion by 2020.

This pace of growth in the IoT market, however, comes at a price because of the increased risk of cyber attacks. Many have called the Smart Home a Dumb Home because of the weaknesses in protecting linked devices across a range of technologies. Others, like this Forbes writer, have memorably described it as the ‘Internet of Thieves’.

After CES, the sun is yet to go down on Smart Home cybersecurity devices.Thomas Hawk

Consequently, Smart Home cybersecurity has become a market all of itself and at CES in January, there were many big players announcing security products that would be launched later that year.

These included the Norton Core, the Bitdefender BOX, CUJO’s smart firewall and Dojo by BullGuard. Refreshingly, these promises have not just been much-publicised hype and these products are now coming to market.

This month it was the turn of Dojo by BullGuard to launched its Smart Home cybersecurity product. Built to protect Wi-Fi enabled devices in the home. Dojo lets users add as many Smart Home devices as they want without compromising privacy or security.

Its app also means users can monitor the security of their Smart Home without being present and because the app is protected by the phone’s authentication system it means that even if someone steals that phone, they are unable to access the Dojo app.

The Dojo gateway’s connection to the cloud is also highly secure. According to BullGuard, a hackathon was conducted at MIT in 2016 where 200 hackers attempted to crack the Dojo and were unable to do so, even within direct physical access to the device.

The Dojo comes with a $199 price tag which includes a 12-month service fee. After that, users have to keep paying to use it at $99 per year or $9.99 a month. This is in line with other products such as the Norton Core, which also charges a similar $99 per year service fee.

While there is the option to pay for a high-end router or Wi-Fi system, routers are typically the weak link in the security chain.

This is exemplified by D-Link that is currently being sued by the FTC and ‘failed to take reasonable steps to protect their routers and IP cameras from widely known and reasonably foreseeable risks of unauthorized access’.

In light of such an example, running a completely independent security gateway would seem to make more sense, even to those who are smart enough to change default passwords.

There are also many attacks that can be carried out regardless of whether a device has a strong password. It is also the case that some devices’ passwords cannot be changed or even accessed.

There are also numerous examples of consumer gadgets that collect and use data in inappropriate ways and changing a password is of no benefit in this scenario.

IoT security devices that deliver a service that goes beyond security to encompass broader consumer privacy concerns appear to be the long-term winners in the battle to defend the Smart Home.

Extra security makes sense. There is no point of owning a house and fitting it with an insecure lock, potential burglars will laugh at it, rather like bored or malicious hackers when the see a Smart Home with the door wide open.

Almost six months on from the IoT security promises from CES, these security companies have kept their word and may, indeed, keep us safe in our Smart Homes tonight… and for some time to come. There is no price that can be put on that.

I have 15 years' experience in the mobile, web and digital sectors. I write for The Economist, MIT Tech Review, Mashable, TechCrunch and Wired UK, and I have a weekly column for UK broadsheet The Telegraph. I speak on the BBC World Service and am a sought-after speaker arou...